LIKE many other provinces around the Philippines, visiting tourists bound for this place can rest assured they will always find nice hotels to choose from and stay. Hotels in Legazpi are generally neat and cozy. Security is good too not to mention that they also offer very popular affordable rates. I would mention a few nice hotels and just feel free to check their websites for a more detailed info.

1. The Pepperland Hotel is located near the airport and has a good view of the Mayon Volcano esp. on sunny days. Although there are transfer rides from the airport to Pepperland Hotel, just a few steps from the airport will bring you right in front of this Hotel. There are also several restaurants offering very good food at very affordable prices conveniently located nearby. Pepperland has its own lobby restaurant that offers a variety of very good food and a night bar, where live bands make it all the more fun fun fun on some nights.

2. Hotel Venezia is just a good 2-minute drive from Legazpi Airport and accessible to government offices, banks, churches, shopping malls, and Albay park. Hotel Venezia offers wide range of accommodation and they have very spacious rooms. Note: Some rooms have verandas. This place is definitely a home away from home. It also has 3 function rooms, meeting facilities and equipment for 350 people (for meetings) and 500 people (for cocktails).

3. Sophia Hotel is also another hotel located along Washington Drive that offers very reasonable accommodation rates. This Hotel is just two minutes away from the airport. It has its own lobby cafe & restaurant. There is a Disco/Ballroom Dancing area on the 2nd floor. Most of performing live bands here are timers to overseas bookings and are very good. For those who are into singing, there is a Karaoke Bar adjacent to the lobby restaurant. But the most important thing is that- they offer very reasonable accommodation rates. Be sure to ask re their occasional promo rates to become an instant winner.

4. Hotel Victoria may not be as grandiose compared with other popular hotels in Legazpi but this hotel offers very good package rates for those visitors checking in in groups. At present, Hotel Victoria has opened only 5 of its many rooms for visitors to accommodate- as the rest are already occupied by guests who are staying for a period of time. Find this hotel along Rizal Street.

5. Hotel St. Ellis(formerlyHotel La Trinidad) is conveniently located along Rizal Streetand a short 3-kilometer drive from Legazpi Airport. Business establishments, restaurants, department stores, Embarcadero, and etc. are all within walking distance. Their 40 guest rooms are havens of thoughful comfort.

6. Casa Blanca Hotel is also located in a very convenient location within the heart of Legazpi City's vibrant downtown and just 10 minutes drive from the airport. Casa Blanca offers itsguests different categories and well appointed cozy guestrooms at very affordable rates. Casa Blanca Hotel's restaurant offers a variety of good food and nightly live band entertainment.

There are still a lot more of nice Hotels and cozy inns within Legazpi City. Check it out!

Bicol is not only proud of its natural wonders and good food but has been also noted to be the major producer of abaca products even before the Spaniards came to the Philippines.

Abaca is grown almost everywhere in Bicol. Volcanic area like the provinces of Albay and Sorsogon, are best suited for abaca cultivation. The Philippines' tropical climate, high to moderate rain fall, and rich in volcanic soil are particularly important in the growing of these plants.

Some of the common abaca products now being sold all over the world are: Bags, Table Runners, Place Mats, Wallets, Belts, Slippers, Carpets, Hammocks, Wall Decors and even ropes.

Americans have been the largest importer of abaca since 1830s , followed by Japan, and Australia.... The American navy uses abaca rope because it has a remarkable strength and more resistant to salt water decomposition than other known fibers. In fact, it was and still is the strongest of all natural fibers. Such qualities that were also appreciated by other foreign shipping companies all over the world.

By 1925, the US Department of Agriculture officials attempted to grow abaca in the Central American countries but despite experimental planting in their willingness to expand the industry in several other central American countries, efforts came out to be futile. However, at the end of World War 2 they have finally succeeded cultivating Abaca somewhere in Equador.

The abaca plant is a restricted material and government regulated. So, while Abaca's seeds and flowers are freely shared among countries, Thus, if a country other than the Philippines claims to grow abaca, DNA testing will always trace its origin to the Philippines, especifically Bicol.

NO food coloring agents have been added to give such bright and happy looks to these delicious noodles. These multiple vitamins and minerals' enriched noodles are products of Bato, Camarines Sur. Thanks to those people who made veggies a lot more easier to eat.

These happy looking noodles come in different flavors like:

Green Noodles: MALUNGGAY/Moringa + (leaves, seeds, and flowers), which are rich in vitamin C, ascorbic acid, iron, calcium, and phosphorus and have been claimed to help lower blood pressure, aid in circulatory stimulation, ease pains caused by rheumatism, headaches, migraines not to mention that it can also help prevent tumor.

Orange Noodles:CARROTS are excellent sources of antioxidant compounds, pro-vitamin A carotenes, which help protect against cardiovascular disease (lower risk of heart attack) and cancer and promote good vision, esp. night vision.

Yellow Noodles: SQUASH+( shoots and flowers)- Alttogether, they become another excellent sources of Vitamins A & B, calcium, phosphorus, and iron, which are very good in promoting good vison, increase rate of metabolism, helps maintain healthy skin and muscle tone. Enhance immune and nervous system function.

Add zest to your short stay in Bicol with the taste of the authentic fiery Bicol express invading your tongues. If I were you, I would not leave Bicol behind without tasting this spicy treat especially prepared for you by the very people who originally concocted it many decades ago. Obviously, it is the name that easily identified Bicol Express as another Bicolano dish. However, it is the exquisitely unique blended flavors of thick coconut milk, shrimp paste, pork, garlic, onions, and a handful of really hot green and red chili peppers(labuyo) that made Bicol express all the more popular not only domestically but internationally as well.

How it is prepared? Very easy☺. Mince a handful of garlic, chop several pieces of onions, chop thinly sliced pork into very small pieces, cut those small labuyo into two and get a pint of fresh thick coconut milk from the market. Once you have all the ingredients ready, set aside coconut milk and sauté all the ingredients in 2~ tablespoons of good oil in the following order. Garlic→onions→chopped pork meat→shrimp paste(washed to lessen saltiness)→labuyo. Add coconut milk and put salt or whatever taste enhancers you'd prefer to add in. Stir occasionally until it's cooked. Done. It's chao time!

With pili nuts being endemic to Bicol, whenever someone speaks of BICOL, image of pili nuts comes into mind especially when the talk is about sweets. Pili trees are usually grown in the Bicol forests. Unless you are a Bicolano, you will not recognize which of those trees that you see around you are Pili. The color of a "ready to harvest" pili nut is more like magenta in shade. These nuts come in clusters. The way pili nuts are harvested is similar to that of harvestingcoconuts. In Bicol, they call the tree bearing pili nuts as simply, PILI.

After harvesting these pili nuts, locals blanch them in lukewarm water for a few minutes and once the external covering of these nuts softens, they are ready for serving (TINOLANG PILI). The dark magenta-colored skin is then peeled off until the cream colored meat-like part is exposed. This part is then- dipped in fish sauce "patis" to give it a more delightful taste.

Once the outer layer is removed, the pili nut shell is then exposed. Pili nut shells are as slippery as lemon and orange seeds when they are wet, that is why- locals have to dry them first before they start the cracking process for easy extraction of pilinuts embedded within those shells. But, aside from the meaty outer layer enveloping a pili nut shell the pili nut itself has also its own thin wrapping, which is colored like that of an old red brick.After they are done extracting these nuts from their respective shells, locals boil them for several minutes until done. The next step is- peel off those nuts skin- after which, they would start cooking these raw pili nuts into sweet luscious candies.

As to pili nut shells, some locals who live far from the city, burn and turn them into charcoals, which by the way, is said to have more energy/heat than that of charcoals made outof wood and coconut shells. With a stock of generous charcoal on hand, they can then cook their pili nut candies without the need to spend more on butane gases and kerosene.